This weekend I took a trip up to the Appalachians. Gadsden, Alabama is home to the base of the Appalachian Mountain Range, and also a photography area. Noccalula Falls is located just outside of Gadsden, and The Little River a half hour north is home to The Hippie Hole.

The Hippie Hole at The Little River in Fort Payne, AL

Noccalula Falls

Noccalula, known for its Native American heritage, offers breathtaking views from the top of the basin as the falls pour into the Niagra-esque canyon below. 

Noccalula Falls 

Weiss Lake in Leesburg, just outside of Gadsden, AL

 Weiss Lake, situated on the northern leg of the Coosa River in Alabama, is a large lake running parallel to the mountain range.

Stairs at Weiss Lake 

Weiss Lake, Leesburg, AL

Hippie Hole in Fort Payne, AL

 

Falls at Little River in Fort Payne, AL

Falls at The Little River in Fort Payne, AL

All in all, I had a great weekend of exploring some of the amazing and scenic areas in Alabama.

What am I supposed to be doing?

Lamp in my bedroom, edited with iPhone apps Photoforge2 and Instagram.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my life, and what I want it to be like. I doubt I'm the only one doing this, but I assume not everyone knows how to talk about it.

At this point in my life, I have a couple of options: continue school as a Biochemistry major, get out, go to graduate school, and become a pharmacist. This is option No. 1. It's nice, it's secure, it's hard, and it's something I'm not really too passionate about. Now let's introduce option No. 2: stick with school, but chase the dream--photography, writing, being creative all day long and constantly finding new ways to look at life. Wow, that one sounds pretty good, right? But wait, there's a down side to No. 2...let's talk about money, bills, job security. Nahhh, let's not discuss any of that because No. 2 has nothing good to say about it. Salary relies on private clients; I'd have to build a company from the ground, up; and there's no guarantee that any of it would work. So, now you see my problem.

The deciding factor in this whole process is something really simple: smiling. I'm going to do what makes me smile. Genuinely, I smile when I am happy (some of you who know me also know that I smile when I say something crass or act like a bastard, but still, even in those circumstances, I'm happy). I figure, if I take things day-by-day, it could [just maybe] work out to my benefit. Instead of choosing an entire path to walk down, I'm choosing stepping stones, one day at a time.

Don't get this confused with taking the easy way out every time I have to make a decision--it means choosing the thing that will satisfy not just one day, but the later days as well. When weighing the decision to see which one will make me happier, it's not just about today's happiness, but the happiness that will be affected by it further down the road. The decisions made today will determine the choices made available tomorrow. Think on that.

So there's this thing called Instagram...

Here’s the thing about Instagram. It’s addictive—sure, we get that. But there’s more to it. Instagram is a direct product of our culture’s fascination with knowing everything. Turn on your TV. If it’s primetime, you’ll most likely be privy to any number of “reality” TV shows (whether they accurately portray reality is a post for another day…). Now think about it: we like these shows because they allow us to imagine what “living their life” would be like. Obviously this isn’t the first time anyone’s ever pondered that “grass-is-always-greener” adage (we have an adage, after all); I’m sure even before Mark Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper you had some poor guys wanting to live the life of the king. The part that makes our generation special is this: we have the ability to witness almost every aspect of the life we desire.

Do you wish your kid was cute and bitchy? Go watch “Toddlers and Tiaras.”

Sad you can’t conceive? Hit up some “[Obscene number] Kids and Counting.”

Whatever life you wish you lived, you can at least tune in to it on Friday nights.

OK, so we understand why reality TV is so popular, but how does that relate to Instagram? Well I’m glad you asked. Instagram is just a still-frame version of reality TV, available on your phone. This “phone” part is vital to the equation—if you put anything on a cell phone, it will become popular.

“Hey, let’s bring back the telegram from the 1850’s, only we’ll put it in phones and call it ‘text messaging.’”

“Honey, do you wanna help Little Timmy read his bedtime story? No? Well just put his iPhone on ‘autoreader’ and I’m sure Siri will take care of him.”

So why should photography be any different? Sure, you could spend several hundred dollars on a camera, take some classes down at the community college (or just Youtube your lessons…), and contact some near-extinct artisans on how to develop artistic prints, OR you could just download Instagram for free. For any of you who do not know, Instagram is a free app that accesses your phone’s camera and applies filters with vintage effects to your photos. Then, the photos are shared to anyone who stumbles upon them while on the Instagram app. The design of the app is, hands down, superb. The quality of the pictures and the ease of use contribute greatly to its massive following (over 30 million users in just 18 months). But the real obsession with Instagram goes back to our fascination with the lives of others.

Instagram allows you to see life through the [filtered] lives of others. Movie stars, artists, athletes, neighbors—they’re all on Instagram, and they all take pictures. Find them, like them, comment on them, stalk them, or admire from afar.

You can search “Starbucks” and see what other people do while they drink their overpriced coffee.

Hashtag “movienight” to see what brand of popcorn your friends prefer.

And why is it so important that Instagram is a phone application instead of a “grounded” website? Simple: it’s “on-the-go.” Take it with you; take pics during the big meeting in the conference room; view pics in the big meeting in the conference room. Boiling it down to its most basic purpose, Instagram is your life, segmented into 1936x1936 pixels, for all the world to see and envy. I should know—while writing this post I’ve published 3 photos

I was feeling sentimental this weekend...

The thing about you is, when we’re here, together, I can close my eyes and try to imagine the perfect world—but here’s the thing; I can’t. The world I try to imagine won’t materialize; that perfection is just beyond my grasp. Then, just as my frustration starts to set in, something happens. The perfect world I’m trying so desperately to imagine starts to form—except, it is identical to the world I’m experiencing, as if my eyes weren’t closed at all. It’s just you and me, sitting together. That’s when I finally understand it: that perfect world isn’t out of reach at all, I’m just already experiencing it.  There’s just something about that feeling: knowing you chose me. In a world where all your possibilities could lead you down any road—any road at all—you chose mine. You chose me, and that is what makes it the perfect world.

Sweatpants and Sin

So I came into Starbucks with the explicit purpose of blogging. Why? Hell if I know...but don't people do that? I'm sitting here thinking, "What can I write that will interest someone?" Then I land on it: me. People don't like me; I'm well aware of that. I'm snobby, standoffish, and selfish. I want things done my way because that's the right way (at least in my mind). I often offend people, but that doesn't bother me, so I guess that makes me an ass. Hey, don't zone out, there's going to be a profound point to this around the third paragraph.

I wore sweatpants to church on Sunday. People hated me--I know it. I wasn't dressed like they (the haters) were. Even more than that, I wasn't dressed even to the standard "teenage ugh" look that the haters somehow manage to cope with. I guess they've allowed their standards drop a little, but me showing up in sweatpants was like a Hispanic woman at a country club who wasn't accompanied by cleaning utensils. How could I so blatantly offend these elders, and God, of course. "God knows" I offended Him, too.

Here we are, the third paragraph: point-making time. It's not that I wore the sweatpants to offend anyone--and I seriously debated about that. I wore sweatpants because I didn't feel the need to impress my fellow church members, or God, for that matter. You see, in some kind of profound, twisted subconscious, I felt totally at ease in those sweats. And here's the kicker: somehow, in some perverse manner, I found that awe-inspiring. It reminds me that God looked at me in my worst possible state and said "I can work with that." Think about it; every sin that I will ever commit, God has already seen, and He's somehow managed to forgive them. The absolute majesty and supreme mercy of that statement blows my mind. He saw me in sweatpants and sin and said "You can do something for me." I'm not sure what it is--I might have already done it, but I hope not--but somehow He has a plan for me. I guess in order for me to seem less self-centered I could add that He has a plan for you, too. He's cool like that.

JoMoPho covers birthday parties!

Until last week, I had never realized just how many photo opportunities there are at birthday parties. I mean, obviously you have the group shots of people having fun, and a pic of the cake, but last Saturday, my eyes were opened to the world of decorations, lights, and candid pictures of people doing embarrassing things.

 

Yes, I know, I'm being a little over-dramatic about this, but that's only because I don't really have a lot to say about this topic. What it all boils down to is this: I am an amateur photographer, and I go to birthday parties. When you mix those two facts together, you get me trying to further my photographic knowledge surrounded by Christmas lights, paper lanterns, and sugary desserts.

 
Here's some pics from a birthday party, enjoy.
-JM

 Birthday cake.

 Birthday girl and her puppy.

 

 Lights in a bokeh.

 Dirty hands.

Flame from the candles.

Black and white decorations.

JoMoPho is going coastal!

This week, my family and I are enjoying the sugary white beaches of Panama City. Besides being relaxing and completely feel-good, PCB also provides ludicrously beautiful photo-opps. In the 2.5 days that I've been down here, I've had to charge my camera's batteries twice. Of course, I'm a little uneasy about having my camera out and exposed with all this sand in the air, but I think it might just be worth the risk, because I'm getting some good shots (if I do say so myself). Gaze upon these from today.

Enjoy,
-JM

 Seagull and beach-goers.

  

Beach flora and brokeh.

 

 Beach flora.

 Receding water.

 Our little setup.

"Scooter" the beach dog.